DALLAS -- Maryland has pushed back by five months the deadline for bids on its $2.5 billion Purple Line light rail project to give the potential private partners time to find less-expensive ways to build the 16-mile system in the northern suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Bids from the four construction consortiums on the state's short list for the project, which is to be built under a public-private partnership agreement, are now due Aug. 19 rather than March 12. The original deadline had been set for Jan. 9, but was extended after the November election to give new Gov. Larry Hogan time to review the project.
The potential partners in the Purple Line sought to delay the bid opening past March after Hogan earlier this month asked Peter Rahn, his nominee for transportation secretary, to find ways to cut costs on both the Purple Line and the Red Line rail project in Baltimore.
The Purple Line's price tag has risen to $2.45 billion in the latest estimate released in fall 2014 from $1.9 billion when it was first proposed. The 14-mile Red Line, which will link Woodlawn in Baltimore County to Johns Hopkins University Bayview Medical Center in east Baltimore, is now expected to cost $3 billion after being initially priced at $2.2 billion. Erin Henson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Transportation, said the four potential concessionaires were notified on Feb. 20 of the extension.
The consortiums selected to bid on the Purple Line project are Maryland Purple Line Partners, Maryland Transit Connectors, Purple Line Transit Partners, and Purple Plus Alliance LLC.
Hogan criticized the two projects as boondoggles during the election campaign, but included $312.8 million for the Purple Line and $106.2 million for the Red Line in his proposed budget for fiscal 2016. However, he has said both projects are still under review.
The private partner in the Purple Line would invest up to $900 million in the project in exchange for a concession to operate and maintain the system for 35 years. It would receive availability payments of up to $200 million per year rather than a share of the fare revenues.
The state had not yet sought bids on the Red Line, which also may be built as a P3 project.
The Obama administration has promised $900 million of federal funding for each of the Maryland rail projects through the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts grant program. The president's proposed fiscal 2016 budget would provide $100 million for each.
During his confirmation hearing on Monday, Rahn told the Maryland Senate Executive Nominations Committee that the cost-cutting efforts would not include shortening or changing the Purple Line's proposed route.
Hogan called Rahn "the best highway builder in the entire country" when he announced the nomination, but Rahn said during the hearing that he is not biased against rail.
"I'm not just a highway guy," he said. "I'm a transportation guy. We're trying to figure out how we can deliver these projects."
Rahn was New Mexico's transportation secretary for seven years and headed the Missouri Department of Transportation for six years.
A report released Monday by the General Assembly's Office of Legislative Audits criticized MTA for what it said was an inadequate review of $238 million of architectural and engineering invoices submitted by Purple Line and Red Line contractors.
Four engineering and architectural contracts for both of the light-rail projects have been awarded by MTA, with the not-to-exceed level raised in July 2013 to $547 million from the original $280 million. Expenditures as of September 2014 totaled $170.2 million for the Red Line and $132.2 million for the Purple Line, MTA said.
